


Pinkie Promise

by NervousOtaku (orphan_account)



Series: Tales of a 144 Player Fansession! [28]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Friendship, SBURB Fan Session, Secrets, Terminal Illnesses, Unlicensed Doctor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-19
Updated: 2017-07-19
Packaged: 2018-12-04 00:22:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11543535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/NervousOtaku
Summary: Or: In Which The Heir Of Blood Learns That She Is Slowly Dying Of Illness, And Needs To Fix It Before It Happens, But Also Decides To Hide It From Her Boyfriend





	Pinkie Promise

**Author's Note:**

> Take none of this medical stuff too seriously, please. I'm not a doctor, I don't know this stuff.

Lily winced.

It was hurting even more now.

Sis had been scheduling a visit to the hospital not even hours before the Reckoning and SBURB began. Because there weren't exactly hospitals or doctors' offices, she'd been doing everything in her power to watch her health. Eating properly, going to sleep at sane times and not over-sleeping, exercising properly, all that fun stuff. But by this point, Lily didn't know if she could delay it any longer. She was just amazed that it had been more than a year.

It _hurt_.

The point of origin seemed to be her right kidney. Or at least somewhere in that area. It felt fine to touch and didn't look like anything was wrong. But there was a burning, searing pain that engulfed that portion of her body. She actually needed a cane on the really bad days, because she couldn't walk upright. It was kind of pathetic, a nineteen-year-old girl needing a cane to walk. When it was at it's peak, she couldn't do anything other than curl up on her left side, an ice-pack clamped against her midriff in effort to ease the pain.

She needed to do something _now_ , while she could still walk.

Groaning a little, Lily mumbled the appropriate pony-name to produce her wrist-comp. It would have been _hell_ to type with her right hand right now, so she switched the band over to that wrist. Slow going to avoid typos, but it would be easier.

**ArteryEternal (AE) began pestering goodNurse (GN)**

**AE: Hey, Doc, I'm in a bad way.  
GN: You'll have to talk to kierra  
GN: I'm busy right now  
AE: Kierra's a healer. You're a doctor. I need a doctor.  
GN: Look whatever it is you'll have to wait  
AE: I've been waiting for a year, Doc. I've been putting it off and trying home-remedies, but I don't even know what it is.  
AE: I think it may be a tumor. I don't know.  
GN: Wait what  
AE: The day we started, my sis was trying to set me up an appointment at the hospital, since I'd been having stomach pains for a solid month. Since we started, I've been doing what I can to stay healthy, but it really hurts.  
AE: I'm in a bad way, Doc.  
GN: Alright but I can't leave so you'll have to come here  
GN: Can you manage that or should i send jacob  
AE: I think I can manage. I'll let you know in a bit.**

**ArteryEternal (AE) stopped pestering goodNurse (GN)**

**ArteryEternal (AE) began pestering Thaumaturgydancer (TD)**

**AE: Hey, Rosanne, could I ask a favor?  
TD: What's up?  
AE: I kinda need to get to LOLAT, Laura's place, from mine. But I'm having trouble moving.  
TD: Oh no! What happened?  
AE: I don't know. Hopefully Doc will.  
AE: Anyway, can I maybe get a ride?  
TD: Not if it'll worsen your condition!  
AE: I somehow doubt it will...  
TD: Alright. Give me a minute, though. I can't travel as far as Butchy in a single leap.  
AE: No problem.**

**Thaumaturgydancer (TD) stopped pestering ArteryEternal (AE)**

Well, all of that was done.

Now to wait.

Hopefully Callisto wouldn't come by. Lily got the feeling he already knew that something was up. The fact that she was sick would destroy him. The fact that she'd been hiding it from him would destroy him.

She wasn't a very good girlfriend, was she?

But it wasn't something you could openly share in this type of situation. Not really. One person being sick would drag literally everyone down. It was best to get it fixed as quickly as possible and move on like nothing had ever happened.

There was a flicker of green light, making her look up expectantly—

“Caitlin—”

“Hourglass is deeply disappointed in Lily Bouquet, and shows her disapproval with a shake of her mane.” the Seer frowned, crossing her arms over her chest. “I already stopped Rosanne. I'll take you.”

“Uh... not to be rude, but you're a Time-player. Your shenanigans don't _cover_ teleportation.” Lily smiled wanly.

Caitlin rolled her eyes, reaching into her shoulder-bag. A can of mixed nuts was produced, opened, and shaken lightly.

Almost instantly, the First Guardian appeared on Caitlin's shoulder.

“ _Wow_. Have you _always_ been able to do that?” Lily asked, eyes wide.

“Not exactly. I guess since I'm the one who wrote the code that made him and he liked my father, I'm just more... likable. But it took a little experimenting to learn I could do this. And he doesn't always answer.” her friend replied, moving her free hand to take Lily's. “First Guardians are supposed to hang around Space-Players. It's one of the golden rules of the game. And he does, but I guess he makes an exception for me or something?”

Green enveloped Lily's vision. She blinked a few times, clearing the emerald light away.

They were in Laura's little clinic. It looked like they'd startled Jacob, from how the Prince was holding his hand over his chest and supporting himself against the wall. She could hear Laura scolding someone in the next room.

“Hey, Caitlin?” Lily asked as the Seer began to leave, squirrel fleeing from her shoulder to who-knows-where. “How did you know I'm...”

“Bright and early Thursday evening, I woke up and dreamed that I was dead.”

“That isn't an answer!”

“I'm a liar, my tale is true— there's a beginning in every end.” Caitlin waved, already walking out of the clinic. “Now, Hourglass has a date with Phantom Hooves in a few hours and needs to pick up her dress from Art Palette!”

“Who?” Jacob asked.

“Hourglass is Caitlin. Phantom Hooves is Shane, and Art Palette is Dev— _Ohhh my Celestia_ , Caitlin's _dating_ Shane?!”

“That's... Rogue of Void, right?”

“Yep! He was the second one in, and he's all over the place! Have you really not met him yet?”

Jacob looked away, sorting through bags of pills instead. “... I...”

Lily leaned forward, eyes riveted on the Prince.

“... I haven't met a lot of people yet. I'm not very good at making friends. I'm not like you.”

“You're a Hero of Blood, of _course_ you are!”

“The Prince of Blood. So I destroy friendships more than I make them. There's a reason I was one of the last ten in.”

“You get along just fine with Laura!”

“I'm _useful_ to Laura. I alchemize her medical equipment, medications, and the like. I'm a worker here at her clinic.”

“That's not true!”

After saying that, Lily winced, hugging herself. Jacob stood up in concern, glancing towards the door Laura was behind. It sounded like an argument was in full swing back there.

After a moment, the pain subsided, and she sat up straight again. Jacob waited a moment, then nodded, going back to sorting the pills.

“... I'm not _you_ , Lily. As the Heir of Blood, you are the _living embodiment_ of friendship. People are naturally drawn to you. On the other hand, I'm the Prince of Blood, the one who _destroys_ friendships and rips people apart. I naturally _repel_ people. In the end, it's just easier not to have friends.”

“That's not true. One of these days, you should just come over to my place. Like when I'm hosting movie night! We'd _love_ to have you, there's _always_ room for more of us! Or you could come with me to _this_ month's movie night! It's in a week, I can let everyone know in advance—”

“— and you're _not_ my uncle! If I want to fucking smoke then I will fucking smoke!”

Mona suddenly stormed out of the back room, yelling and throwing the bird over her shoulder.

“Fine, but when your lungs look like over-cooked meat, don't come around _here_ looking for treatment!” Laura yelled back.

“Fuck you!”

“Up yours!”

Mona slammed the door behind her.

There was a moment of silence as Laura composed herself.

“... I'm sorry for the display, Lily... Please, come to the back.” the Mage waved, running a hand through her hair.

Looking to Jacob, the Heir said with a grin, “Pester me, yeah?” before getting up and following Laura. It didn't hurt enough for her to get her cane out, but she wasn't bouncing or going fast.

“This looks serious. Why didn't you contact me sooner?” Laura frowned as she limped to the table.

“I thought I had it under control. It wasn't this bad.”

“But it has persisted for over a year now. Your sister had the right idea. You should have come to me sooner.”

A little over an hour later, the results were in.

“ _Dying_.” Lily echoed flatly.

“I don't know what it is. It appears similar to kidney failure, but you have few to none of the symptoms. It isn't a tumor. I would need more time to identify it properly, but there's a very good chance that it's been present ever since we were made. It would have started small, unnoticeable, but as you grew, so did your body's demands and needs... Whatever it is, it's starting to affect your blood. If we don't fix this within six months, you'll be on your deathbed.” Laura answered, flipping through another one of her medical books with a furrowed brow.

“Would god-tiering help?” Jacob asked as he reshelved the books Laura was done with.

“Only if her dream-self isn't also afflicted.”

“I've never noticed it when I'm asleep.”

“Nevertheless, I'll need to examine your dream-self to be sure. You're a Prospit dreamer, right?”

Lily nodded.

“Well, I'm busy now, but I'll check tonight. I'll send you the results via Pesterchum once I finish everything else. Until then...”

Laura turned and scribbled something down. Apparently she had done so on carbon paper, because it was torn in two and one half handed to Jacob. He read over it, nodded, and left the room. The Mage handed the other half to her.

“Once every morning, take two of the first type with breakfast. They'll help with blood-circulation. Hopefully that'll help with the dizzy spells. Take the one of the second an hour after you eat lunch. Make sure you take it with water, to help it go down. Check in with me once in a while, since that one is iffy. It's supposed to help with cancer, but this doesn't look like cancer. It's a shot in the dark, and if it doesn't work, we need to change it so it doesn't make things worse. The third one has instructions written down on the bottle. They're more detailed and you need to record every time you take one. They're blood-thinners, which I'm hoping will help ease the pain.”

Lily nodded again as Jacob came back in, holding a small plastic bag with three orange pill-bottles inside.

Laura gave a few more instructions, and then Lily was leaving.

By the time she returned to LOVAR, the Heir was ready to start crying.

She was _sick_.

She was _dying_.

If they couldn't find a way to fix it, then her death would doom the whole session.

Pygmalion had said that they all needed to survive to the very end. And here she was.

 _Dying_.

A small sniffle left her as she trudged into her house.

“There you are! I was worried about you!”

Shocked, Lily looked up.

Callisto.

“Y'know, I've been pestering you for the last twenty minutes wondering where you where?” he smiled gently, coming over to hug her. He'd been sitting in Sis's old wicker chair. Watching the door.

“... Sorry. I was busy.” she said, still in a daze as the Bard gave her a gentle squeeze.

Luckily his arms were around her shoulders and not her waist.

“Hey... you alright, kiddo?”

“... Yeah. Yeah.”

Realizing that she did not by any means sound okay, Lily forced herself to smile. “Yeah, I'm fine! Just thinking! You know, Jacob still hasn't met a lot of everyone! We should bring him along to movie night!”

Callisto obviously didn't buy the act, but was gentleman enough not to press. He smiled back, nodding.

“Already making up a pony for him, ain'tcha?”

“Well of course! I'm thinking Philosopher's Stone, because of his thing with alchemy, but...”


End file.
